Mother pleads guilty to hitting 1-month old twins

A Monroe mother who previously admitted to repeatedly hitting her 1-month-old twins in their heads with her fist pleaded guilty Thursday in 4th Judicial District Court.

Pernisha Simpson, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was charged with 10 counts of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile.

According to court documents, records from May 3, 2013, show the girl had nine skull fractures and the boy had one.

Simpson said she brought her daughter to the hospital when she saw “(the baby’s) eyes were crossing and jumpy.”

According to police reports, the incidents happened over two-week span.

Under police interrogation, Simpson described what happened on one occasion.

“Well, she was crying and he woke up started crying and I have (another child) running around, and she wouldn’t stop crying, so I got mad and I hit her,” she said. “Then (the boy twin) starts crying, and she’s asleep and she wakes up crying, and they both crying at the same time. I mean, I mean, it’s stressful and I hit him, too, as hard as I could and I did both of ‘um like that.”

Simpson initially said her boyfriend dropped the baby girl but later retracted that story. According to police reports, she said when she hit the twins she would ball up her fist and always hit them on the side of the head.

According to police, Simpson said her daughter’s eyes would drop whenever she tried looking at something, and they also started crossing.

During the investigation, Simpson admitted to hitting her daughter seven times and her baby son three times.

Attorney Charles Kincade represents Simpson.

“With the entry of this plea, we now focus on the sentencing phase,” he said. “We intend to offer much mitigating evidence as we work to obtain the most reasonable and humane sentence as possible.”